DWP plan opposed by six city unions wins backing of council panel

A Los Angeles City Council panel voted Monday to let the Department of Water and Power scale back the cost of hiring away workers from other city agencies, despite objections from workers outside the DWP.

The council’s Budget and Finance Committee unanimously recommended an end to the DWP’s practice of absorbing longtime pension costs of workers who transfer from other departments. The move is designed to resolve a lawsuit filed by representatives of the utility’s powerful union. But it could spark a new legal fight with other labor organizations -- those that represent city workers who might one day seek jobs at the DWP.

The DWP has traditionally offered higher pay, better benefits and more job security than other city agencies. As a result, more than 1,600 city employees moved to the utility from other departments between 2004 and 2010, passing $183 million in retirement costs on to ratepayers, according to city budget officials.

Representatives of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18, the DWP’s largest union, filed a lawsuit in 2010 demanding that the city’s budget reimburse the utility for the retirement costs of those transfers. City leaders intend to settle that lawsuit by imposing new financial restrictions on employee transfers to the water and power utility.

The Coalition of L.A. City Unions -- a group of six unions that represents non-DWP city workers -- contends the changes would have a “severe impact” on its members, reducing the size of retirement benefits available to those looking for jobs at the utility. In a letter sent Monday, the coalition said it will “take all necessary action” to protect those benefits.

The coalition also filed an unfair labor practices complaint last month calling on the city to cease and desist from moving forward with the changes to DWP pension benefits for transferring employees.

The changes are part of a larger deal announced by Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Council in August. That pact avoids raises at the DWP for three consecutive years for most employees and hikes the retirement age for new hires starting Jan. 1.

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, a high-level budget official, said that if the pension and transfer changes are abandoned, the whole deal would fall apart.

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